In a known way, a computing machine runs by means of an operating system that manages its resources in order to execute processes. The operating system generally resides in a mass memory of the machine. The mass memory is a permanent memory such as a hard disk.
When the machine starts up, its firmware initiates a startup function resident at a given address of the mass memory. The startup function activates the operating system, which builds itself data structures from information resident in the mass memory. The data structures are used, for example, to allocate and manage storage areas made available to processes to be executed. While the machine is running, the operating system adapts these data structures to changes in the processes being executed. In order not to overload the RAM and in order to be able to retrieve these data structures after a shutdown of the machine, the operating system regularly saves the data structures in the mass memory.
If the machine is shut down in accordance with pre-established rules, the operating system puts the data structures in a coherent state and saves them in the mass memory. Thus, the machine is shut down in a coherent, safeguarded state, which allows it to restart in a state that keeps track of the processes executed before it was shut down.
If the machine is shut down without following the pre-established rules, for example in case of a hard restart or an untimely shutoff, the data structures may not be able to be saved in a coherent state, since the operating system may, for example, have written them into the mass memory only partially. During a restart of the machine, the mounting function of the operating system then detects incoherencies and generates an error signal. Using an operator interface, it is then necessary for a human operator to intervene in order to fix or at least acknowledge the error. This can be tedious, and moreover, requires the presence of a human operator and the existence of an operator interface.